This invention relates to humidifiers and more particularly relates to a novel humidifier construction for admitting moisture into the air in an enclosed area.
In forced air heating systems, the forced air heaters heating up the air in an enclosed structure, such as a commercial building, house, or the like greatly reduce the relative humidity in the structure. The reduction or constant varying of the humidity in the atmosphere in these structures has been found to create an unhealthy environment. Also, varying humidity levels have been found to dry and crack articles, such as furniture, wall hangings, and the like which are disposed within the confines of the structure. Thus, the maintenance of proper moisture content in the enclosed areas is particularly important.
In order to maintain a proper humidity level within selected enclosed areas, many different types of humidifiers have been devised and are presently available today on commercial markets. The most common types of humidifiers available today include firstly, the plate type, which includes a shallow open tank with a plurality of filter plates mounted therein extending vertically therefrom wherein the tank is partially filled with water to immerse bottom portions of the plate and the water is drawn upwardly through the plates and dry hot air is directed over the plates to transfer the moisture from the pan to the airstream passing thereover. A second type of humidifier presently commercially available is of the rotary wheel type wherein a drum or wheel of filter material is mounted within a tank or housing which is partially filled with water to cover the lower portion of the drum. The drum or wheel then rotates through the water in the tank or housing and into an airstream which is directed over the upper portion of the drum thereby transferring moisture to the airstream. A third type of humidifier presently commercially available is the spray type humidifier which generally consists of a nozzle connected to a water spray for producing a fine mist spray which is directed into a hot airstream in a forced air heating system. In the aforementioned, water added to the hot airstream is vaporized by the heat of the relatively dry air as the temperature of the water in the humidifier is below the temperature of the dry airstream. Thus, the temperature of the dry airstream passing over the humidifier is decreased by an amount equivalent to the amount of energy necessary to vaporize the moisture in which the airstream is coming in contact.